


Vecchio timeline

by belmanoir



Category: due South
Genre: Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-10
Updated: 2012-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-03 10:07:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/380214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belmanoir/pseuds/belmanoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A detailed, footnoted timeline of Ray Vecchio's backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vecchio timeline

**Author's Note:**

> **This is a work in progress.** If you have additions or suggestions, let me know and I'll add them in!
> 
> All the dates in this are approximate. They're based on the idea that the Pilot takes place in 1994 and that events in episodes happen more or less around the time the episode aired. Admittedly this is a leap, but it's all we have to go on. 
> 
> Remember, dS has a complex relationship with dates and continuity. It's not always necessary to take their word as gospel if it doesn't work for your story. But in this timeline, I've presented exactly what we're given; you can judge from there what you want to use. 
> 
> It is possible to make this timeline consistent IF you assume that Ray is sometimes vague about time or exaggerates for effect. For example, he says he spent "a full year" undercover as Langoustini despite the fact that it was probably only ten months. His claim that he spent six years in Vice is also questionable [SEE BELOW].
> 
> Aingeal did [a timeline of Vecchio's CPD career and relationships](http://community.livejournal.com/ds_closet/42452.html) a few years ago that discusses possible contradictions in more detail and has some behind-the-scenes info about the show's continuity.
> 
> I'd like to thank the fans who created and maintain [the episode transcripts I used](http://www.trinityslash.com/trans/) (not always verbatim); the commenters on [this post](http://community.livejournal.com/dues_research/25984.html), from which I took the information about the dates of Ray's undercover gig in Las Vegas; and everyone who gave suggestions on my draft, particularly Aingeal whose Vecchio-knowledge never ceases to awe and inspire me.

**May 28, 1960.** _Born(?)._ This is more fanon than canon; it's the year David Marciano was born, but there isn't necessarily a connection. Paul Gross was born in 1959, but Fraser was born in 1961 or '62. ("Pilot": his father describes him as seven years old "the last time I saw [him]" in a journal entry dated January 1969.) There was a prop on set that listed Ray's birth year as 1960, but it was never visible on-camera. We DO know for sure that his birthday is May 28 ("Eclipse").

**Date unknown.** _Took baths with his brother._ **N.B.:** His brother is never mentioned in any other episode, despite Fraser's lack of surprise at hearing about him. ("Hawk and a Handsaw." VECCHIO: Well you know, me and my brother used to take baths together when we were younger.) 

**1965.** _Frannie born._ ("Vault." FRANNIE: "Thirty years of picking up socks, buying veal and kissing butchers!")

**Date unknown.** _Ray's father takes him to Burt Block's place to place bets._ ("We are the Eggmen." VECCHIO: My old man used to come here all the time. He'd tell my mother we were going to the park, but we'd always end up here.[...] BURT: You grew up nice. Used to be the softest kid I ever saw. His old man'd be listening to the radio and screaming for those Nicks to run faster and little Ray would be there in the corner stuffing his face with crullers, all chubby and--)

**Date unknown.** _Ray watches his father play pool at Finelli's._ ("Victoria's Secret." VECCHIO: Dinnertime would come and Mom would start yelling how the roast would be ruined, so I'd volunteer to go down to Finelli's. I'd sneak in and stand in the corner where he couldn't see me. WHACK! Three balls off the break. He'd start knocking them in, cross side, cross corner--and then he double banks the eight ball. He was a lousy father, but boy, could he play pool. It was the one thing in life he did well.)

**Date unknown.** _Ray's mother makes pasta fasule every Tuesday._ ("North." VECCHIO: Tuesdays. Ma always made a big pot of pasta fasule. She started boiling the beans early in the morning. You could smell it in every room. It's heaven.)

**Date unknown.** _Ray is physically abused by his father._ The extent and severity of the abuse is unclear. ("Gift of the Wheelman." VECCHIO: I learned two things from my father. One, timing. Mostly when to duck. And two, you never hit a kid 'cause it doesn't teach him anything.)

**1970.** _Ray tries to go camping with his father._ ("North." Based on the 1960 birth year. VECCHIO: My dad when I was a kid[...]used to hang out down the pool hall, shooting pool and drinking espresso with the guys and acting like a big jaluke, which he wasn't.[...]So I'm 10, right, and I get this idea in my head that I want to go camping. I don't know where I get it, out of a book or something. But the point is that I just want to be with him, you know? I just want to spend some time with him. So finally he says 'yes,' and I go and I get a tent, right?[...]So my Mom, being the sweetheart that she is, goes and gets me her best sheets, her really good sheets, right? So I get some wood, 'cause I want to start a fire, right? But what I really want is for him to teach me how to make a fire. So I'm waiting for him to come, right? And it's starting to rain.[...]I waited and waited, but he never came. So I go down to Finelli's and sure enough, there he is shooting pool with his friends. I go home, I take the tent down, and we never speak about it ever again.)

**1974, approx.** _Ray accidentally kills Frannie's hamster._ ("Pizza and Promises." VECCHIO: Yeah, twenty years ago. FRASER: You killed her hamster, Ray? VECCHIO: How was I supposed to know they couldn't swim?)

**1974.** _Frank Zuko beats up Marco Matroni while Ray watches._ ("The Deal." Ray repeatedly describes the event as "twenty years ago." Systems vary, but "junior high" used to commonly run from grades 7-9 in American cities.) 

**Date unknown.** _Ray dislikes logic problems in school._ ("The Duel." VECCHIO: This is like those problems in school. You know, those logic problems where a train leaves Dayton at 2 p.m. travelling 60 miles an hour and another train leaves Akron at 1 p.m. travelling at 40 miles an hour and at what time do they intersect. The only answer I could come up with was I don't care.) 

**Date unknown.** _Ray uses a rope contraption to hide in trunks and sneak into drive-in movies._ (In "Pizza and Promises," Ray claims he's saved hundreds of dollars this way.)

**Date unknown.** _Dates Annie McRae._ Her father caught them together in Nicky Stango's basement. ("Some Like It Red." VECCHIO: Well, you know, Sister Anne and I were, you know, we used to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean, before she was Sister Anne. And, uh, you know, things were going along and I wanted to get a little more intimate, you know, do more of the boyfriend-girlfriend stuff[...]Okay, so there we were, doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and all of a sudden her old man comes bursting through the door and he blows up like Krakatoa! He starts calling me all kinds of terrible names and forbids her from ever seeing me again.) 

**Date unknown.** _Dances with Irene Zuko for the first time._ They presumably already knew each other at this point, but it's not clear whether they were just classmates, friends, or already romantically involved. ("Juliet is Bleeding." VECCHIO: You know, the first time I ever danced with her was in PE class. She kept trying to lead. I finally had to ask her to relax, that it would be okay. Just put your head on my shoulder and close your eyes.)

**Date unknown.** _Is on the basketball team._ This could have been in either high school or college (or both) depending on when you place the relationship with Irene Zuko. ("Juliet is Bleeding." VECCHIO: I never told a soul. IRENE: Yeah, right. Outside of the basketball team, maybe.)

**Date unknown.** _College(?)._ (In "Some Like It Red," he tells Fraser he wasn't an English major, not that he hated high school English, which suggests a college education.)

**May 10, 1980.** _Ray's father buys a pool table._ ("Victoria's Secret." VECCHIO: You know how long that pool table's been in my basement? FRASER: Fifteen years. VECCHIO: My old man bought it for Mother's Day. By Father's Day, she let him back in the house.)

**1981.** _Relationship with Irene Zuko._ In "Juliet is Bleeding," Irene says, "That was 15 years ago. Are you insane?" It may have been a college relationship rather than a high school one, or it may have been a very long-term relationship despite being a secret. 

**1985/6.** _Joins the CPD._ By June '86, he was walking a beat. ("You Must Remember This." VECCHIO: Nine years on the force down the drain. "Pilot." VECCHIO: June '86. I'm walking a beat. I get a call on this domestic violence case. Very very messy. The guy has his wife's arm in the car door and he's slamming it and slamming it.)

**Date unknown.** _Marries Angie._ May be before or after he joined the force.

**Date unknown.** _Buys his first Riv._ This may be before or after he joined the force, but it is after his marriage. ("One Good Man." In the flashback, he and Angie are already married; he's in street clothes and she's wearing what appears to be a patrolman's uniform.)

**1988.** _The Carver case. Ray's marriage is on the rocks. Ray's current (and first) partner, Laurie Zaylor, leaves the force._ At this point he had not yet made detective. Laurie says, "Ray was pretty intense back then. That put a lot of people off, but I liked him. He really cared." ("The Duel." The original Charles Carver case was "eight years ago.") 

**Date unknown.** _Makes detective_. According to Ray, his promotion was largely due to the influence of his mentor and boss Will Kelly. ("The Duel.")

**Date unknown.** _Spends six years in Vice._ ("The Promise.") **N.B.:** Ray may be exaggerating here. Even if he made detective immediately after the Carver case, there doesn't seem to be time for him to have spent six full years in Vice, then worked the Freddy Kruger case two years before "The Witness" [SEE BELOW].

**Date unknown.** _Dates an unnamed woman._ May have occurred any time after the break-up of his marriage and before the start of the series. ("You Must Remember This." VECCHIO: So there we were parked in the Riviera, it's two o'clock in the morning, and she asks me where I think this relationship was going.[...]I'm telling you, man, it was a beautiful summer night and there was a breeze coming in off the lake. This is no time to sit and talk about the future.)

**Date unknown.** _Frannie is briefly married._ ("Pilot." FRANNIE: At least my husband never yelled at the dinner table. MARIA: Maybe because he wasn't around long enough to have a full meal.) It is perhaps hinted, though never stated directly, that her marriage was physically abusive (Ray makes the connection with the Francis Drake domestic violence case immediately after the "full meal" exchange).

**1989.** _His father dies._ ("Pilot." VECCHIO: You know he's been dead for five years now and I still feel like I'm trying to prove myself to him?) 

**1989.** _His sister Maria marries Tony._ ("Pilot." Maria says, "Five years we've been together. All he can come up with is a used housecoat." While the "five years" may refer to their relationship as a whole, the housecoat is an anniversary gift, which suggests marriage years to me.)

**1993.** _The Freddie Kruger case._ ("The Witness." VECCHIO: I arrested Mr. Kruger on similar charges two years ago.[...]He beat an old woman in a smoke shop and got off on a procedural foul-up.)

**1994.** _Meets Fraser. They bond._ ♥♥ 

**April or May 1997, approx.** _The Guy Rankin case._ ("Dead Guy Running": the incident apparently took place while Fraser was on vacation. Since Fraser's vacation was unlikely to be very long, this places it within a few weeks of "Burning Down the House" and "Eclipse.")

**Early May, 1997.** _Goes undercover as Armando Langoustini._ (A newspaper in "Eclipse" is dated May 28, 1997. The episode is unlikely to take place more than a few weeks after Vecchio's phone call to Fraser, especially since it appears to be very late spring or early summer during Fraser's vacation in "Burning Down the House.")

**March 1998.** _Ray's cover as Armando Langoustini is blown by Fraser._ ("Call of the Wild," Parts 1 and 2. The showdown with the submarine is March 11th.)


End file.
